I was reading Andrew Kern’s latest blog post over on the Circe Institute site, and it prodded me to read and consider carefully again – or perhaps for the first time with intentionality and in the light of education – James 3:13-18:

“Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.”

We say in classical education that we aim to cultivate wisdom, but how often do we simply attribute this wisdom to good teaching, the “right” curriculum, or – in the worst case – the diligent efforts of our students?  Sure, we would never come out and name these things as the sources of wisdom, but don’t we act like that one teacher is irreplaceable, or that new curriculum will “fix” everything?

But that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

Let’s say that we do acknowledge that true Wisdom is “wisdom from above.”  James goes on to tell us that this kind of Wisdom is “first pure . . . ”

This is where Kern really gets me to thinking.  If “wisdom from above is first pure,” then the cultivation of this wisdom in us:

1) Requires repentance, and thus

2) Depends 100% on Jesus.

Kern is much more eloquent at expounding on this idea, so you have my full permission (nay, encouragement) to stop here and go read his post (linked above).  If you would also like to entertain my musings, I’m going to endeavor to take a closer look at this adjective “pure.”

As has become my new hobby, I want to take a look at the Greek here.  The word for “pure,” as the primary adjective assigned to “wisdom from above,” is hagnos, which can mean “pure,” “chaste,” or “in a condition prepared for worship.”  This word is very similar to (same origin, I believe) as hagios, which can mean “holy,” “sacred,” “set apart for God,” or “likeness of nature with the Lord.” (ref: Strong’s Concordance)

There is much fodder for conversation in this range of connotations, but I want to focus on one in particular (and if you think I’m stretching this discussion by playing around with connotations, please forgive me and go back to Kern’s post):

“in a condition prepared for worship”

I just love this.  “Wisdom from above is first in a condition prepared for worship.”  This of course requires repentance so that we may be washed clean and reconciled to God and to our brothers and sisters.

“Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?  Who may stand in His holy place?  The one who has clean hands and a pure heart . . .” (Psalm 24)

But do we in our schools – in our classrooms – associate the cultivation of wisdom with preparation for worship, with repentance?  I know that I have not.

To elaborate, let’s get really practical here.  Perhaps I have made a habit of starting math class with a prayer of thankfulness, or an invitation to the Holy Spirit for his illumination of our minds and hearts, but never a prayer of repentance.

God have mercy.  Forgive me.

For a teacher, this means not only repenting to God, but to our students and fellow teachers as well.  Jenny Rallens could have been reading from my own mind when she said in one of her recent talks at the SCL Conference (forgive the paraphrase, Jenny), “I just realized one day that I had made so many mistakes, done so many things wrong in my classroom, and I had never apologized to my students for anything.”

How can I truly hope to cultivate wisdom in my students – wisdom from above – if I stand before them unwashed and unreconciled?  How can we truly hope to educare – to draw out, to EDUCATE – our students if we, ourselves, are in hiding?  My mind immediately thinks of all the days I have failed to embody the Truth to my students because I have not been prepared for worship.

Wash me clean, Jesus.  Purify my heart.  Help me to model this repentant posture for my students.

This education thing is so much bigger than we think – how do we Christians ever get hung up on test scores or college prep?  There is so much more at stake!

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)